Two sides of a love song

The speaker prays and prays and prays, citing the unmovable course of nature, as if to get an assurance that they will never part from each other. It is an earnest wish to never be apart until mountains and rivers disappear completely, a lump of metal comes up to the surface of the water, or the sun appears at night and stars appear during the day. What is the story behind such a desperate song? It must have been the desire to reassure the confidence that their love will last forever as the unchanging, permanent nature. Here, love is noble and absolute, comparable to the existence of mountains or celestial bodies. On the other hand, the song might have been about vague anxiety that they can break up at any time. Wishing for immutable love is counterevidence that there is an urgent crisis in their relationship. The song seems to express the speaker’s strength to lead their romantic relationship, while it shows the speaker’s anxious concerns about the partner’s change of heart at the same time. People must have sung the song with such two sides based on their own stories and preferences.

Bodhisattva Man is a type of tune developed afterward. Instead of giving it a title, it typically takes the first phrase as the title. The song highlights the frankness of the people expressing emotions directly and boldly. A number of lyrics for post-Tang dynasty folk songs were discovered in a stone cave in Dunhuang, China in 1900.